Colorado sends openly gay man to Congress

Openly gay Jared Polis was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives on Nov. 4 from Colorado’s 2nd Congressional District, which encompasses areas north and west of Denver, including the city of Boulder.

Polis, a 33-year-old Democrat, is the first openly gay man elected to Congress who was out when elected for the first time. U.S. Rep. Tammy Baldwin, D-Wis., holds the female distinction in that regard.

“The voters of our district have spoken clearly that they want change brought to Washington,” Polis told the Denver Post. “I look forward to taking my out-of-the-box approach and creative ideas to help shake up Washington.”

In his primary-election victory speech in August, Polis introduced his partner, made reference to being gay, and said, “I always worried that that would get in the way (of) giving back and contributing to our society.”

A millionaire who made his money in online ventures, Polis spent $5.6 million of his own funds in the campaign.

Polis becomes the sixth open gay to serve in the House of Representatives, following in the footsteps of Baldwin, current Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.), and former Reps. Gerry Studds (D-Mass.), who is deceased, Steve Gunderson (R-Wis.) and Jim Kolbe (R-Ariz.).

John AravosisFollow me on Twitter: @aravosis | @americablog | @americabloggay | Facebook | Instagram | Google+ | LinkedIn. John Aravosis is the Executive Editor of AMERICAblog, which he founded in 2004. He has a joint law degree (JD) and masters in Foreign Service from Georgetown; and has worked in the US Senate, World Bank, Children's Defense Fund, the United Nations Development Programme, and as a stringer for the Economist. He is a frequent TV pundit, having appeared on the O'Reilly Factor, Hardball, World News Tonight, Nightline, AM Joy & Reliable Sources, among others. John lives in Washington, DC. John's article archive.